Miller,
Bill, and Walter Pincus. "Defense Analyst Accused of Spying for Cuba."
Washington Post, 22 Sep. 2001, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
Materials arranged chronologically.
Miller,
Bill, and Walter Pincus. "Defense Analyst Accused of Spying for Cuba."
Washington Post, 22 Sep. 2001, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
Ana Belen Montes, the Defense Intelligence Agency's senior analyst for Cuba, was arrested at her office at Bolling Air Force Base on 21 September 2001. She is "accused of providing classified information about military exercises and other sensitive operations to the Cuban government."
Moreno, Sylvia. "An Improbable Spy? Friends Old and New Stunned by Arrest of Reserved, Frugal Defense Analyst." Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2001,
A1. [http://www. washingtonpost.com]
"In Washington's world of top-level intelligence briefings, Ana Belen Montes was the go-to person on Cuba. She told people how the communist nation worked. But all the while, federal authorities say, the 44-year-old Defense Intelligence Agency analyst was telling Cuba just how the United States operated, from the identity of undercover agents sent to infiltrate the island to details on military exercises."
Golden, Tim. "Pentagon's Top Cuba Expert Pleads Guilty to Espionage."
New York Times, 20 Mar. 2002. [http://www.nytimes.com]
On 19 March 2002, Ana B. Montes, 45, pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Washington, DC, to a single count of conspiracy to commit espionage. Montes ... admitted "that she spied for the Cuban government for 16 years because she opposed United States policy toward Havana."
Montes acknowledged "that she had revealed the identities of four American undercover intelligence officers and provided the Cuban authorities with reams of other secret and top-secret military and intelligence information.... Under her plea bargain, Ms. Montes will be sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment and 5 years' probation"
Tucker,
Neely. "Defense Analyst Pleads Guilty to Spying for Cuba." Washington
Post, 20 Mar. 2002, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
Tucker, Neely. "Spy for Cuba Sentenced to 25 Years." Washington
Post, 17 Oct. 2002, B1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
On 16 October 2002, Ana Belen Montes was sentenced to 25 years in prison for spying for Cuba. U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina "was unmoved" by a five-minute speech from the "unapologetic ["I obeyed my conscience rather than the law," Montes said in court] spy who used shortwave radios and encrypted transmissions to relay sensitive U.S. secrets to the Cuban government."
Carmichael, Scott W. True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba's Master Spy. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2007.
From publisher: The author "served as the lead case agent for the DIA on the Ana Montes espionage investigation." Montes is "the only member of the intelligence community ever convicted of espionage on behalf of the Cuban government."
Peake, Studies 51.2 (2007), comments that "many of the details one would like to know -- just when and how she was recruited, precisely what was it that made DIA security and the FBI think she was an agent -- have been omitted, probably for security reasons.... There is more to be said about the Montes case, but True Believer is a worthwhile start."
To Chesser, American Spectator, 3 Jul. 2007, this work "shows that catching spies within our own intelligence structure is a painstaking process." The author, "as much as he is able..., walks readers through each step of evidence gathering and case development, while illustrating the challenges in convincing his higher-ups that Montes was a problem."
Harter, Intelligencer 15.3 (Summer/Fall 2007), finds "three glaring deficiencies" in this work: "the author fails to fully portray the role of the FBI in the investigation; define the damage done by Montes' espionage; and provide a meaningful explanation of her recruitment by the Cuban Intelligence Service." (footnotes omitted) Although the book "is a good overview," it "remains an incomplete treatment."
For Prout, DIJ 16.2 (2007), "aside from a glimpse at the bureaucratic organization of DIA, this book provides very little 'inside information'" on the Montes case. The author's "commentary on the modus operandi of well trained professional espionage agents could have come from spy novels and Grade B movies."
Goldman, IJI&C 21.2 Summer 2008), expresses strong disappointment with this work, declaring it to be "a bad book for many reasons." The author manages to tell as more about himself than he does about Montes. The author has replaced the presentation of facts with "what if scenarios" for which "he provides no evidence or information."
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